This invention relates to a date generator capable of generating time data or other, and a portable apparatus provided with such a data generating device.
In portable apparatus such as cameras, conventionally, a date display device is generally provided on the rear surface of a camera main body to imprint date data in a part of a photographed frame when photographing is performed. The date display device provided in the camera also enables an adjustment of time, a change of a display mode (a display mode of month/day/year) and a selection of date display (i.e., whether or not a date is to be imprinted in a photographed picture).
In some known cameras, a world map is displayed on the rear surface of a camera main body and, when a preset country is designated, a date displayed is changed to the one based on the standard time of the designated country. Portable information input apparatus such as electronic organizer or PDA have been commercially available to allow an easy input of a travel schedule and the like.
The content of the date display is manually changed in the date display device provided in the conventional camera and portable information input apparatus. Accordingly, if a user brings them to a country or an area which has a time difference from a country or area where he lives such as when he travels abroad, a cumbersome operation is required to manually change a date to be displayed to a date in that country or area. In the portable information input apparatus, a period during which the user stays in the foreign country or other area is known by inputting a travel schedule. Thus, in the case that the user travels to the foreign country as scheduled, it is convenient if the date display is automatically changed to the date in that country or area during his stay. However, since the content of the schedule and the date are not linked to each other, the date to be displayed cannot automatically be switched to the one in that country or area during the period of the travel.
In the case of cameras, the date displayed in the date display device is imprinted in the photographed picture. Accordingly, unless a user changes the date display of the date display device during the travel to a foreign country, the automatic date imprinting causes a problem. Thus, in cameras, if the displayed date of the date display device is automatically changed to a local date when the user travels to a foreign country or the like, it can advantageously avoid a cumbersomeness to manually change the date and prevent an error date imprinting. Therefore, a function of automatically changing the date display becomes more effective.